Psychology

Course summary

Literally ‘science of the mind’, psychology is the scientific study of thought, behaviour and experience. Psychology is a fascinating subject and this course is based on the application of psychology to real-life events. Components of the Course Component 1: Research Methods This component is intended to introduce and develop a knowledge and understanding of the process of planning, conducting, analyzing and reporting psychological research across a range of experimental and nonexperimental methodologies and techniques. To achieve this students will become familiar with the four main techniques for collecting/analysing data by engaging in four practical investigations designed, executed and reported by the students themselves. The techniques are: self-report; experiment; observation; and correlation. Component 2: Psychological Themes through Core Studies This component focuses on some of the central areas of investigation in psychology. For each theme, students are presented with both a classic and a contemporary study. The classic studies are ‘landmark’ pieces of research that have helped to shape the course of the subject. The contemporary studies are more ‘up-to-date’ pieces of research that engage in some way with the issues being explored in the classic studies they are paired with. The key themes include: the response to people in authority; helping behaviour; memory; attention; external influences on children’s behaviour; moral development; regions of the brain; brain plasticity; understanding disorders and measuring differences. Component 3: Applied Psychology Through this component, students explore some exciting and very significant applications of psychology and gain an insight into how theory can be applied to real-world situations. The applied areas we will cover are: issues of mental health; child psychology and criminal psychology